Tales of Tactics and Curses
by PlegianTrio
Summary: A collection of various unrelated stories about Robin and Tharja as a married couple. (Some stories might also contain some Chrom x Sumia in the background.)
1. Stargazing

_Author's note: The stories in this collection won't be in any chronological order. They will take place at different points in time during and after the events of Awakening._  
 _This particular story takes place during the war against Valm. I don't own any of the characters in this fanfic._

 _Synopsis: Robin and Tharja go stargazing together and have a small conversation about memories.  
_

* * *

 **Stargazing**

Darkness was dwelling over the continent of Valm. The sun has gone down a few hours ago and the full moon was accompanied by the shiny presence of thousands of stars in the black sky. The shepherds had decided to set up their camp here near a small forest, so that they would finally be able to enjoy a peaceful night after enduring a few harsh battles in the last few days. Some of the soldiers were already asleep, while others were sitting around the campfire, laughing, joking and telling each other various stories.

However, one particular person was absent from the camp. Robin, the tactician of the shepherds, had taken a short walk away from the others, sitting himself down onto the cold grass in an open field. He wanted to be alone for a while, take a break from the cheerful demeanor of his friends and fellow soldiers and think about various things that have been on his mind lately.

The war with Valm had been very draining for him and he knew that the worst was yet to come. The Valmesian army was massive and it became more and more difficult for him to devise effective strategies to make sure that all of the people who relied on him would survive the many battles. But for tonight he wanted to forget all about the war, since there was something else that has been bothering him recently.

Lately he has had very weird dreams almost every night. Dreams in which he saw vague images of a white-haired woman looking at him from above. She seemed somewhat familiar to Robin, and yet he couldn't tell who this mysterious woman was, having never seen her before. Or at the very least he didn't remember ever seeing her.

Robin felt like this person might be someone he knew from before he had lost his memories. He even had a slight suspicion regarding the identity of the white-haired woman, but there was no way he could confirm his theories. Frustrated, Robin looked up into the stars and sighed deeply. If only there was a way for him to regain his memories. Maybe then he would know…

Suddenly Robin was taken out of his thoughts by a familiar feeling. A feeling that he had experienced many times before in the last two years. The feeling of being watched.

"Tharja, don't you want to come out and join me?" he asked without turning his head. As soon as these words left his mouth, he heard leaves rustle, as if someone just walked out of a bush and soon a shapely figure appeared next to him.

"You noticed me so quickly." The Plegian woman commented. "I thought that I was perfectly hidden in the shadows, but if you could so easily tell that I was here, then I must have been slacking."

"It's not so much that you are getting worse at hiding, it's more like you stalked me for so long that I developed a sixth sense for it." Robin answered and patted on the ground next to him, indicating for his wife that she should sit down. While he originally intended to come here to be alone, he certainly didn't mind Tharja's presence. She was usually rather quiet and having her around him had an oddly calming effect on the tactician.

Tharja sat down in silence and immediately snuggled herself into Robin's side.

"Aren't you cold?" he asked a bit worried. It was a little windy tonight and he didn't want his wife to catch a cold.

"I'm fine. Don't worry." Tharja answered, though for some reason Robin didn't believe her.  
He took off his coat and wrapped it around the two of them. "Here, now we are both warm."

Tharja didn't feel the need to say anything and simply smiled at her husband's gentle gesture. Cuddling together, they sat there for a while and stared at the night sky. Minutes passed and the sounds and voices of the other shepherds, who have still been audible from all the way here, were growing quieter until they ceased completely, yet the young couple was still gazing at the star-filled darkness above, neither of them having said a word for quite a some time now.

After a half hour it was Robin who broke the silence.  
"The view here is truly beautiful." he mumbled. "You rarely get to see such clear skies at night."

Tharja, who has almost dozed off, was put back into awareness by her husband's words, yawned and replied with a tired voice.  
"It kind of reminds me of the sky back in Plegia. Here in Valm it is almost always clouded and Ylisse was usually like that too, but in Plegia you could see the stars shining in the blackness of the universe every night."

Robin turned his head to look at his wife. "Do you ever miss your country?" He asked her, slightly concerned that Tharja might suffer from homesickness.

But she only responded with an empty, joyless laugh. "Do I miss Plegia? Hardly! It's a dreadful land filled with sand, criminals, moronic cults, sand, scoundrels, diseases and more sand. I don't think I would mind forgetting about this horrid place completely now that I have you."

Robin was surprised to see Tharja's animosity towards her own home-country. He figured that Plegia probably wasn't the best place to grow up in, but was it really not even worthy to be remembered?

"Tharja, I get that your childhood wasn't the best, but forgetting it completely? If life in Plegia is really as terrible as you say it is, then that doesn't mean it should be forgotten about, it means that something needs to be done about it. I really hope that Chrom and I can strengthen the bonds between Ylisse and Plegia after we end this war and help out the people who were tormented under Gangrel's tyranny. Together we might be able to improve the lives of the Plegians and bring peace to both of our countries. I believe that Plegia can and should be turned into a place worth living in, because no person deserves starve or suffer, just based on what country they were born in."

He took a quick break from his little speech to catch his breath, as Tharja stared at him in silence. Then she let out a small chuckle.  
"I really should have expected such a response from you." She said as she grew closer to her husband. "You have such a pure heart, Robin. It's admirable. I don't think I ever met a person who is so kind-hearted yet so smart at the same time. You always find new ways to fascinate me."

Her face suddenly got more serious.  
"But I don't think I can be as optimistic about this as you are. I have seen Plegia at its worst and I stay true to what I said. Now with you at my side, I don't see the need for memories of that grim-filled place. As long as I am with you, I already have everything that I need."

The dark mage looked into her husband's eyes, awaiting his response. While she sounded very confident in what she said, Robin believed that it wasn't the whole truth.

"While it makes me happy to hear that, I can tell you from my own experience that losing your memories is a terrible feeling. Your memories are a part of you, they make you who you are. I can see the way you stare at the night sky, remembering your home-country. It is not a look of pure disdain. I can tell that even though Plegia is a terrible place to live in, it is still a part of you. Somehow, I don't believe you when you say that you want to forget about it."

Robin noticed that Tharja now avoided his eyes, suddenly finding the ground next to her incredibly interesting. For Robin that meant that he must have been at least somewhat right in what he said.

"Your memories and experiences shaped you into the person you are now. Just look at me. I have no memories of my own and what am I? A nobody! No past, no identity, nothing I can look back at." For a moment the white-haired woman from his dreams crossed his thoughts again, making Robin sigh internally.  
"I sometimes feel like I am incomplete…"

Before he could continue, Robin was abruptly interrupted by a suddenly angered Tharja. "Can you even hear what you are saying?! Of course, you're not a nobody. It's true that memories are a part of someone's identity, but they don't make a person. It takes nothing more than a simple curse to alter or remove them completely, but not even the most powerful curses can truly change someone's core being. You are Robin, master-tactician, valued member of the shepherds and most importantly, you are MY husband and nothing will ever change that!" Robin wanted to respond to her argument, but before he even got the chance to open his mouth, Tharja continued her little rant.

"You have lead your army through countless battles, while keeping our losses at an absolute minimum, you have quickly devised a clever strategy for every problem we encountered and just now you talked about helping a nation that had brought you nothing but pain and suffering. You are… truly astounding."

Tharja had her eyes locked on him, her face dead-serious. Her praises had made Robin blush and he sighed quietly before looking at his wife's face with a smile. This time he waited a few seconds before he made a response, just to make sure that she was actually finished. "I think I see your point, though I don't know if I will ever get used to you complimenting me so much. You probably should stop praising me like that all the time. I fear that, if you keep constantly stroking my ego, I will become vain."

Once again Tharja let out a small chuckle. "Believe me, if there is one thing that you are lacking, then it's ego. You are an amazing person, Robin. I just wish that you would be able to realize this too. You really need to work on your self-conscience."

"Well, I guess that's what I have you for, right?" he joked with a smile on his lips, while wrapping his arms around his wife.

"Oh, I will make sure to remind you on a daily basis of how wonderful you are." Tharja responded, making herself comfortable in Robin's embrace. Though for a moment she lowered her head and looked to the side as she made a little confession. "And maybe you're not entirely wrong about my feelings for Plegia. It's very complicated…"

"So, does that mean you will help Chrom and me, when we try to strengthen the bonds between Ylisse and Plegia after the war? We could use someone who knows more about this country than we do." Robin asked and awaited Tharja's answer.

She lifted her head back up and turned it towards him, looking once again at her husband.  
"You know that I will always be on your side no matter what you plan in the future. If you really want to improve life in Plegia, then of course I'm going to support you, regardless of my feelings for it. But for now all of that doesn't really matter. The thing that truly matters right now is that you should stop worrying so much about your identity. You are great just the way you are now."

"Thanks Tharja, you always know how to put a smile on my face. And I really appreciate our philosophical discussions." Robin responded. He noticed that Tharja was shivering slightly in the cold of the night and hugged her even tighter as a response.

"You know what's even better than philosophical discussions?" She asked him, as his soft embrace slowly warmed her body.

"What?"

"This." Tharja answered and locked her lips against his. Robin didn't have a counter argument for this, so he simply returned the kiss.

The stars watched over the young couple as they became lost in their own little world.

* * *

 _Author's note: Some of you might wonder who that white-haired woman from Robin's dreams is, so just in case it wasn't obvious, I will reveal that this woman was supposed to be Robin's mother. However I will not explore her character any further in this fanfic. Robin will never find closure on who that white-haired woman from his lost memories is and this is something that he has to live with._

 _Thank you so much for reading this story, I hope you enjoyed it. I would be really happy if you would also leave a review. Have a nice day. Bye._


	2. Valentia-day

_Author's note: This story takes place a bit over a year after the events of Awakening._

* * *

 **Valentia-day**

It was a beautiful day in the capital of Ylisse. As the sun shined across the peaceful kingdom, the heart of the city was at its most lively. Hundreds of people crossed the streets of Ylisstol, the joyful laughs of playing children filled the air and many curious objects changed their owners on the market.  
The war against the fell dragon, which has brought much suffering to all people of Ylisse in the past, was now nothing more than a distant memory.

It was on this very day that the tactician Robin wandered through the market in the search for a certain shop that he had recently heard of, all the while a mysterious hooded figure accompanied him.

"Gods, Robin how do you even manage to endure wearing this coat at all times? It's so stuffy and hot in this. Are you sure that this is necessary?" The cloaked figure asked. Hair as blue as sapphire glimmered from beneath the hood.

"Well, if you prefer being overrun by crazy fangirls who want to meet the exalt in person, then you can take it off whenever you want, I certainly won't stop you." Robin replied with a smirk, making the hooded figure sigh deeply. "No, you are right, Robin. I just miss the times when I could walk across my kingdom without wearing a ridiculous disguise."

"Hey! My coat is not ridiculous. It's maybe not your usual style, but I think it looks great on you." Robin remarked teasingly. "And as long as you wear it, nobody will be able to tell who you really are, meaning you can finally take a walk through the market without being stopped by your loyal subject every five seconds. I think even a prince like you needs a day out of the castle once in a while."

"I wish I could make it more than just a day." Chrom said slightly sulking. Ever since the Shepherds defeated Grima, Chrom's job as the leader of an entire country has become more tiring with each week.  
Making plans for rebuilding towns that had been destroyed in the war, trying to strengthen the bonds with the new Plegian government to finally bring peace between the two countries, working on improving the trade-market with Chon'sin… It all put Chrom under a lot of stress.

Who would have thought that governing a country during peacetime would nag more at his mind, than fighting an evil dragon-god.  
The worst part about Chrom's life after the war was that, even when he did manage to take a day off, he couldn't just go outside like a normal person, because that would only end in masses of excited Ylisseans surrounding him and preventing him from getting anywhere.

This is why when Robin came to him today, telling him that he had an idea on how they could spend some together at the market without the entire Ylissean population following them, he agreed immediately. Seeing the beauty of his kingdom during peacetime… It reminded him just what he was working for, when he was stuck in the castle for days.

"It's so nice to finally breathe some fresh air again. I missed smelling all of the scents and hearing all of the noises of the market. It's really nostalgic to me."

"I'm glad you are enjoying it." Robin said with a smile, yet he couldn't help but feel a little sorrow.  
Knowing that his friend felt so much relief about just getting outside for once, something that should be a common occurrence for anyone, clouded Robin's mind with guilt.

Unlike Chrom's life, Robin's own life had become a lot easier since the war ended. While he of course still worked hard as Chrom's advisor, he felt much less stressed, now that he didn't have to worry about keeping his friends alive anymore. But while he didn't feel the immense pressure of great responsibility as strongly as before Grima's defeat, the pressure that still lingered over Chrom had become only worse with time. There must be some way for me to help Chrom out, Robin thought to himself.  
"I'm sorry that you have been so occupied lately. I will try my best to take some of that work off your shoulders. I don't want you to stress yourself too much."

Hearing Robin's comforting words, Chrom started to chuckle.  
"Hehe, interesting to hear you say that, seeing how I had to tell you the exact same thing so many times in the past. But of course, I appreciate your help. I know that you always do everything you can to help me out, though for today I think we should just relax and have some fun together. It's been a while since we just casually talked to each other. Tell me, why did you want to go to the market anyway?"

"Oh, I just wanted to buy a gift for my wife."  
Robin answered truthfully. He knew that Chrom and Tharja didn't get along all that well, since Tharja was incredibly jealous about all the time that he and Chrom spent together and Chrom was a little disturbed by Tharja's odd behaviour (something Robin couldn't blame him for), but they also respected each other and Chrom has always been very supportive towards Robin's choice of mate.

Today was no exception, as the blue-haired prince showed his interest in his tactician's marriage.  
"Is it for her birthday or do you just want to do something nice for Tharja?" He asked curiously.

Robin gave Chrom a judging look. "Chrom, don't tell me you forgot that tomorrow is Valentia-day."

Chrom's eyes widened. "Oh… I didn't have the time to… Gods, I would have faced Sumia without a gift tomorrow if you wouldn't have reminded me."

Given all the stress that Chrom was put under recently, Robin wasn't all that surprised that he forgot about tomorrow's special day. Valentia-day was a popular holiday in many countries all over the world. It originated from the continent of Valm, back when it was still called Valentia and was originally meant to be a reminder of the wedding of the two heroes who have brought peace to the continent over two-thousand years ago.

Nowadays barely anyone still cared about the royal couple from ancient times, but Valentia-day still existed and was seen as a celebration of love and romance.  
It was a tradition for couples to give each other gifts on this day, which is why Chrom was freaking out a little bit over forgetting it.

"Seriously Robin, a thousand thanks for reminding me. You are a life-saver. But say, how come that you never forget any important dates? You aren't exactly known for your good memory."

"Well, that's pretty simple actually. I keep a well-organized calender with all of the important Ylissean holidays as well as everyone's birthdays. That way I never forget about anything." Robin exclaimed with an almost uncharacteristic amount of pride. Planning and organization have always been some of the tactician's greatest strengths.

"Of course you would have an organized calender." Chrom remarked, knowing exactly how exited Robin could get over making plans. "So, what do want to buy Tharja anyway?"

"Henry told me about a shop here at the market that sells amphibian-eyes. I know that Tharja frequently uses them for her curses and if I remember correctly, she just recently ran out of them, so I want to do her a favor and buy them for her."

Chrom looked a bit skeptical. "Amphibian-eyes? You mean like from frogs and stuff? That doesn't really sound like the most romantic gift to me."

"I get what you are saying, but in my opinion, it is much more romantic to give your partner something a bit more personal, something that suits them, rather than to just buy some generic Valentia-day-stuff like chocolate and flowers. It shows just how much you know the person who will receive the gift." Robin explained.  
  
"That's an interesting way of looking at it. Though I am sure that Sumia would be a little disappointed if I gave her anything other than flowers as a gift. She loves getting flowers, because she always had a bit of a fixation on them and in the last few years I have always tried to come up with a new arrangement of flowers for her Valentia-day-bouquet. I will need to buy some while I'm here."

While Robin could tell that Chrom has been very stressed lately, he also knew that Chrom was very dedicated to his wife. There was no way Chrom wouldn't do anything in his power to bring Sumia as much happiness and joy as possible.

Robin soon interrupted his thoughts about his friend, as he saw a particular sign on a nearby building.  
"This house up ahead should be the shop Henry told me about. It's the one with the sign that says _House of magic and enchantment_."

"I think I know where we are. There should be a flower-shop not far from here. I hope they aren't sold out yet. I could imagine that there are quite a lot of other people who want to buy flowers on the day before Valentia-day. Maybe I should quickly take a look and buy my gift for Sumia. We can meet here again in a few minutes."

"Okay, see you soon."  
With that the two friends split up. Chrom hurried into the direction of the flower-shop, while Robin entered the mysterious so-called _House of magic_. It wasn't very big, about two to three times the size of Robin's own office, but despite its small size the shop was filled to the brim with many obscure objects, talismans and body-parts of various animals.

A short middle-aged man was giving the tactician a toothy grin from behind the counter and greeted him into his halls of wonder. At first glance the shopkeeper seemed rather friendly, but when Robin took a closer look into his eyes, he could see nothing but a greedy man trying to sell as much of his overpriced junk as he could. According to Henry the vast majority of his supposedly magical amulets and talismans were fake blunder for gullible customers, but in the hands of a real dark magician at least most of the body-parts could be used for curses and magical potions.

A part of his brain told Robin that it was wrong to support a fraud like this salesman, but it was the only place he knew where he could buy the amphibian-eyes that he needed for Tharja.

Though that made him think. He knew that even though Tharja would never admit it, she occasionally gave away some of her potions and talismans to people in need. Maybe he could convince her to open a magic shop where she could sell some of her less dangerous experiments.

But for now he should concentrate on buying Tharja her Valentia-day-gift. He noticed that the shop offered various jars of amphibian eyes, that varied from frog, to newt, to salamander. It has been a while, but he remembered Tharja mentioning that newteyes were the most reliable and versatile as an ingredient. To Robin displeasure he had to realize that it was also the most expensive one. But money should not be an issue when it comes to love, shouldn't it? He reluctantly payed the full price, ignored the vicious smirk of the shopkeeper and started looking for Chrom.

After a few minutes of searching he noticed a gigantic flower-bouquet made of purple and blue orchids and white roses approaching him. Behind the mass of petals Robin spotted the familiar brown color of his coat.

"Chrom is that you? Wow, this bouquet looks actually really beautiful. Did you pick those flowers out yourself or did the shopkeeper pick them out for you?"

"I actually picked them out myself. When it comes to flowers, I know Sumia's preferences really well by now and I tried to make her the most astounding flower-bouquets imaginable, so thanks for the compliment. If you think it looks beautiful, then I'm sure Sumia will love it." He looked down at the jar that Robin was holding and noticed the multiple eyes swimming in it, some of them still twitching a little. "Your gift for Tharja looks certainly very… uh… It looks like… Like something that Tharja would appreciate more than any other person would."

"Heh, that's one way of putting it." Robin smiled at the thought of how true Chrom's words were. It is undeniable that Tharja is very different from other people, but that only made her more special to him.

His mind wandered back to Chrom, who was still trying his best to keep the giant flower-bouquet from falling apart. "Well, now that we have what we need, how about we look for a nice café so that can relax for a while and have a long conversation. There are a lot of things that I would like to talk about with you. How is Lucina doing?"

"Oh, she is full of energy and she is getting better at talking. Sometimes she even manages to speak a full sentence. I hope you don't have any plans for today, because I have tons of Lucina-stories to tell you." A big smile shined across the face of the exalt as he thought about his daughter.

Chrom's happiness was very contagious, especially since it has been a while since Robin could have a normal conversation with his friend and was very much looking forward to it. He spent the rest of his noon listening to adorable toddler-stories about little Lucina, while drinking hot coffee, and while this may have seemed like a boring way to spent the day to some, Robin was just happy to see the feeling of pure joy in his best friend's eyes, rather than the tired expression of an overworked ruler. It was a moment of peace and the two friends could enjoy it fully without any stress or worries to bother them.

* * *

It was the morning of Valentia-day and Tharja was getting up unusually early. After spending a few minutes watching the still asleep Robin, she made her way towards their kitchen to make breakfast for the two of them. She felt the need to make this Valentia-day the most amazing day that Robin had ever experienced, especially since their last Valentia-day had been less than ideal.

Tharja had still no idea why Robin didn't like the special custom-made shirt, that she had ordered in Anna's shop for him. It was woven from a black material and had the words _Tharja's husband_ written on it. The shirt was meant to represent their love and also be a reminder to everyone that Robin was hers, yet even though Robin tried his best to appear thankful, Tharja could tell from his expression, that he wasn't really all that excited about the idea of running around in clothing that would announce to the world that he was Tharja's property. And even though she failed to understand why Robin didn't like her last gift, the dark mage still felt the need to make up for it this year.

This is why she had been secretly selling some of her potions and talismans on the side for about ten months now. She had saved as much money as she could in order to buy the perfect gift for her husband. Luckily for her the Ylisseans weren't that familiar with dark magic and while some of the civilians were afraid of her dark arts and called her an evil witch, others were very curious about what she had to offer. There was a surprisingly high amount of people who were interested in her cursed items, despite them not being very powerful. Tharja was responsible enough to know that it would be a bad idea to get some of her more impressive dark creations on the market, where they could easily fall into the wrong hands.

Most of the stuff that she sold were just minor magical objects that almost any somewhat competent dark mage could easily create, meaning that in Plegia anyone would be able to buy them at basically every shop for very little money. But seeing how Ylisse lacked any dark magicians, she was able to sell her potions and talismans for about four-times the price.

With the extra money she had bought a very expensive strategy-book for her loved one. Since Robin talked about various ancient tacticians all the time, Tharja was able to memorize some of the names that he would often mention and she decided to use this information to find the perfect gift for him.

After she had finished making breakfast for the two of them, she went back to their bedroom to look for Robin. She was thinking about watching him sleep for a few more minutes, yet she had to realize, that he was already awake and was just about to get dressed. Tharja decided to keep quiet and observe her husband as he changed from his nightgown into his iconic coat.  
Though, her spying did not go unnoticed for long. "There you are Tharja. I was wondering where you were. It's an odd feeling to wake up in bed and not have you clinging to my side." Robin walked up to her and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Well, now you know how I feel when you leave the bed early to go to work. Anyway, I made you breakfast for Valentia-day, my love."  
the dark mage told him as he fastened his coat.

"Sounds great. I can't wait to taste what you made for me today. You are truly amazing in the kitchen." He said as he walked towards the kitchen-table and took a seat.

Tharja watched with great interest as Robin hungrily gobbled up the breakfast that she had prepared for him. She was very glad that her husband was so fond of her food, especially since she didn't really saw herself as a great cook. While she was by no means a catastrophe in the kitchen like Sully, during the war, she had noticed that whenever she was on kitchen-duty the other Shepherds were much less excited for lunch-break than usual. Even she herself wasn't that fond of her own dishes, yet for some reason Robin loved her cooking. Maybe this was another sign that she and Robin were fated for each other…  
Or maybe Robin just had a very odd sense of taste. Personally, Tharja preferred to think that it was the former.

* * *

Robin hadn't felt this full in a long time. Tharja had spared no expenses in making this the best breakfast he had in months. She knew that he loved hearty food, which is why she had prepared meatloaf, omelets and salmon-sandwiches for him, among other things. She had clearly put a lot of effort into this breakfast and Robin enjoyed every bite. His love for his wife's cooking originated from long before they got married. He could still remember how she used to stuff his mouth with delicious liver-and-eel-pie against his will. Back then he had still found Tharja unnerving and now he couldn't even imagine to live without her. Life seemed to work in mysterious ways sometimes.

After they had cleaned up the kitchen, Robin decided that it was time to repay Tharja for this great meal.

He quickly disappeared into his office and reached behind a book on his shelf where he had hidden the gift that he had bought for his wife yesterday. With the jar of newt-eyes behind his back he returned into the kitchen.

"Happy Valentia-day Tharja. Here is a little gift for my little angel of darkness." He exclaimed cheerfully as he presented Tharja with her present. "It's the newt-eyes that you needed."

"Oh, you knew that I ran out of amphibian-eyes? Your observations-skills rival even my own." Tharja took the jar out of the tacticians' hands and inspected the still twitching newt-eyes. "Hehehe, these will make for some wicked curses. Thank you, my love. Now let me return the favor by bringing you your gift." With that she vanished like a shadow in the light, only to reappear half a minute later, now carrying an ancient-looking book pressed against her chest.  
As soon as Robin realized that books were involved his curiosity peaked and he inspected his gift with great interest.

"Happy Valentia-day my dear. I have bought this rare old strategy-book for my favourite tactician." Tharja showed off her gift for him, clearly excited to see Robin's reaction. "It was apparently written by one of these old strategists that you constantly talk about."

"Wait, what?" Robin basically ripped the strategy-book out of Tharja's hands and inspected its cover. "Tharja, this was written by the legendary tactician Katarina! It is said that she advised King Marth in the war of heroes. There are only a few copies of her strategy-notes. How did you get your hands on this?" Robin's eyes were sparkling and he was giddy like a little kid unpacking their birthday present.

Tharja simply watched his excitement with great joy.  
"Hehehe, I have my ways… Now, tell me Robin, what do you thi-Mmmpf!?" Before Tharja was able to finish her sentence, Robin pulled her closer to him and placed a kiss on her lips. Her face became red from Robin's sudden sign of affection, but he knew that she wouldn't dare to pull away from him, so he started caressing her left cheek with his hand as they continued to make out. Even though they had kissed many times before, each time their lips touched still felt like a special event.

When Robin broke the kiss, he kept his hand on her face, looking lovingly into the eyes of his precious dark mage. "Gods, I love you so much Tharja! This is more than I could ever ask for." He exclaimed cheerfully, while his wife simply smiled at him, then he took another look at her gift for him.

"I think will start reading it immediately. This book will probably keep me occupied for weeks."  
As he turned his head back to his wife, he noticed that her happy expressions had very quickly turned into a menacing glare, one that made him a little uncomfortable. He took a moment to think about what the cause for her abrupt change in demeanor was, when he suddenly realized what he had just said.

"Uhh… I mean… I will start reading it tomorrow, after I have spent the rest of this special day with you and only you." He quickly corrected himself.

Hearing these words Tharja turned her glare back into a devilish smile. "Heh, that sounds a little better. I have been craving to spend the whole day with you for a long time now, so you better make all my waiting worthwhile. Though, I doubt that you could ever disappoint me."

"Now you are really putting some pressure on me. But I will still make sure that this will be the best day you had in years." Even more so than before Robin felt like he really needed to make this day perfect for Tharja. She had clearly put a lot of time and effort into getting this gift and making today's breakfast for him and all that he had done for her was getting a few newt-eyes from the market. And then he even temporally forgot that he wanted to spend the whole day with her. He really needed to make up for being so ignorant and unthankful today. Luckily for him, he knew exactly what he needed to do to make Tharja feel like she was in the seventh heaven.

"How about we pack a picnic-basket and get outside for the rest of the day. We can stay in the middle of nature, away from Ylisstol and its inhabitants, just you and me, all alone with no other human soul in sight." The tactician suggested, knowing exactly that Tharja would absolutely love the idea of the two of them being together in a secluded place, where no person would bother them.

"That sounds like paradise to me." Tharja said with a wide grin on her face, confirming Robin's assumption that his wife would not be able to resist his suggestion.

He walked up to her and wrapped his arms around her stomach from behind.  
"We can even stay there until long after the sun has set, because I know how much you love the night. And then we can do whatever it is that you request. All of your deepest desires will be fulfilled by the end of tonight." He whispered into her ear, trying his best to come off as seductive.

It seemed to be working pretty well, since Robin felt how Tharja shivered just from the alluring sound of his voice. "I promise you that I will make you the happiest woman in the world. You can see it as me making up for having just such a pathetic gift for you, when you put so much more effort into making this an amazing day for me."

"Oh, Robin you don't need to make up for anything. Knowing that you love me enough to pay attention to my cursing-rituals and know which ingredients I need, makes me already feel like the happiest woman in the world, no, in the entire universe! Besides, those newt-eyes will really come in handy. You know how much I love experimenting with magic. I will make some of the most wicked curses and some of the nastiest potions the world has ever seen!"

The dark mage let out her signature sinister laugh, before calming down again. "But for now, we should just focus on having a fantastic time together. I already have a few ideas about what I want to do with you, but let's just follow your plan for now. I will let you know when you can start to _fulfill my deepest desires_ , as you put it." she added with a smirk.

"Great, then it's settled. We shouldn't waste any time and start packing our stuff. I can't wait until we're finally alone." Robin said as he gave his wife an additional kiss on the cheek.

"Me neither." Tharja replied, confident that this would be the best Valentia-day the two of them have ever experienced.  
 _  
_

* * *

 _Author's note: Robin x Tharja may be my OTP, but Robin x Chrom is my BrOTP and I wanted to write a little bit about their bromance as well, which is why the first half of the story is a lot about them interacting, rather than about Robin and Tharja._

 _Also, I always liked the idea that Tharja is a bad cook, but Robin will love her dishes regardless, which means she will sometimes (but probably not daily) cook for him, even though she doesn't actually like cooking all that much._

 _Originally, this chapter was called Valentine's day, but shortly before uploading it, I realized that Valentine's day wouldn't exist in the world of Fire Emblem. This is why I quickly came up with the similar sounding Valentia-day and included its origin-story in this chapter._

 _Thank you again for reading this story. If you liked it, please leave a review. Have a nice day. Bye._


	3. Alternate Ending

_Author's note: This next story contains some inconsistencies with my other stories in this collection. Think of it as a_ What if? _-Scenario. It takes place after Robin's sacrifice at the end of Awakening._

* * *

 **Alternate ending**

Nothing. An endless stream of bleak black nothing. No light, no colors, no sounds, no feelings… Robin had no idea where he was right now or where he was going. If he was going anywhere at all. Maybe he would just spend an eternity in this strange world of absence. Did time pass in this world? He couldn't tell.  
Somehow, through all the darkness and emptiness he heard a voice appearing out of nowhere.

"… to do something." Robin couldn't quite understand everything the voice said, but at least some of his senses came back. He noticed something under his hands. It felt like grass. Was he lying on the ground? He wasn't sure, since he still couldn't see a thing. Instead, he heard another voice answering the first one.

"Well, what do you propose we do?" Robin recognized this voice. He was sure that he had known this person once, but he couldn't tell who it was. His memory was still a little foggy.

"Oh… I dunno…" Suddenly light burst into Robin's eyes. He saw two figures standing in front of him. A very familiar looking young blond woman and a just as familiar sapphire-haired man, both of them smiling at him.

"I see you're awake now."

"Hey there."

All of a sudden thousands of memories flooded Robin's brain all at once. Chrom! Lissa! He remembered them! They were his friends, who had been with him through thick and thin, along with all of his other comrades among the shepherds. He remembered how they faced off against Grima, how he chose to sacrifice himself. He remembered seeing the sad faces of his friends as he disappeared from this world.

Did he manage to somehow come back? Was this real? Or did he actually die and was merely reliving all the memories of his life before he would move on to the next?  
He noticed that Chrom reached out his hand. "There are better places to take a nap than on the ground you know. Give me your hand."

Still not sure what was going on, Robin took the hand and was helped back on his feet. He was still a little shaky, since he hasn't been standing on his feet since… actually he wasn't quite sure about the last time he has been standing upright. Chrom laid his hand on Robin's shoulder.

"Welcome back. It's over now."

Robin needed a moment to process what Chrom just said. _Welcome back_. These words were the confirmation that he needed. This wasn't just a memory that he was reliving, he really was back! All of this was real! Realizing that, Robin couldn't help but trap Chrom in a big hug. "Chrom, I thought I would never see you again. How am I still here? Did we win?" Before Chrom got a chance to answer, Lissa joined in on the group-hug.

"Yep, we were victorious. Grima is no more! And it is all thanks to you and your sacrifice. But now you are finally back and I can't even express how happy I am to see you again. Don't you ever pull something like that again. I missed you a lot Robin!" She happily exclaimed, tears of bliss rolling down her cheeks.

"Everyone among the shepherds missed you." Chrom added, while looking quite a bit teary-eyed as well, then he released his friend and his sister from their hug. "I always knew that you would eventually come back. It was only a matter of time until we would find you and seeing you again now was definitely worth the wait, no matter how long it took. It just feels great to hear your voice again after so long."

Chrom's words confused Robin. To him the battle against Grima and his heroic sacrifice felt as if they happened a day ago, maybe two. Yet he realized that he actually had no idea how much time has really passed since these events. "How… How long was I gone?" He asked, a bit uncertain.

Chrom and Lissa exchanged a worried look before Chrom decided to answer. "It's been almost a year since your sacrifice. But we never gave up hope that you would return."  
Almost a year… Hearing these words gave Robin a sick feeling in his stomach. Had he really been gone for so long? He needed to sit down.  
Chrom, who had noticed that Robin was overwhelmed by this news, tried his best to calm him down.

"It's okay Robin, the important thing is that you are back and well. It doesn't matter how long you have been gone, we will do our best to make sure you are caught up on everything and soon you can return to your normal life." Chrom reassured him in a comforting manner. "Don't stress yourself just because you missed out on a year."

Robin wasn't so sure if this would be as easy as Chrom made it sound. On the one hand, he felt like losing an entire year was something he should feel stressed about, but on the other hand, he should be glad that he was still alive at all. Besides, if he could manage to get used to losing his memory, then he should be able to adjust to the fact that he lost a year.

Suddenly Lissa took him out of his thoughts, by jumping up and down eagerly. "Oh, this reminds me! Happy anniversary Robin!"  
Robin looked at her confused. "Wait… Today is my anniversary?" He asked and Chrom nodded in response.

Since Robin didn't know when he was born, he couldn't celebrate his real birthday, which is why Chrom and Lissa had decided that each year they would celebrate the day that they found him instead. If what they said was really true, then this must be his fourth anniversary since he had lost his memory.

"Happy Anniversary, Robin." Chrom congratulated him as well. "Actually, your anniversary is the reason why we are here in the first place. Even though you hadn't returned yet, we still wanted to celebrate today, which is why we returned to the place where we first found you. We were hoping that this way you would be with us in spirit, but we would have never expected to actually find you here. It was on this very day that we first met and I'm so glad that we don't have to celebrate this special day without you."

"Hold on. Are you saying that this is the place where you originally found me?"  
Robin hasn't paid that much attention to the landscape until now, but as he looked around, he realized that the green fields that surrounded him looked very familiar. The hills and trees in the distance closely resembled the ones from his earliest memories. Even the flowers that grew around him looked the same. It was here at this place, four years ago, where Robin's life had truly begun. At least in a sense.

"This really is the place from all those years ago..." Robin commented, still having a hard time processing everything. As a strategist he was supposed to always be three steps ahead, but right now he felt like he was a mile behind on everything.

"Come, let's get you to the others." Chrom said and lead Robin to a nearby pathway.

* * *

As they walked towards the camp Chrom explained to Robin what happened while he was gone. After Robin's disappearance, Chrom had wanted to look for him all over the world, but after just a few weeks of unsuccessful searching he realized that he was needed in Ylisse.

Chrom apologized to Robin about not being able to look for him any longer, but as the ruler of Ylisse he had more important things to do, than to search for a friend, no matter how much he missed him. He also repeated that he deeply believed that Robin would return eventually, but Robin had trouble imagining that Chrom didn't have at least some doubts.

On the way to the camp, they bumped into Frederick, who seemed a little angry, because apparently Chrom and Lissa have decided to go for a walk without informing him, making him incredibly worried about their safety. When he saw Robin, he was quite shocked, but he quickly managed to find his posture again after Chrom explained what happened.

"To think that Lord Chrom found you on the exact same day as four years ago. This almost seems like a miracle. But of course, I am pleased to meet you again Robin. I assume you probably want to return to your position as Chrom's tactician, correct?" Frederick asked with a smile.

While Chrom and Lissa were overly excited when they saw Robin again after a whole year, Frederick acted still very formal, but Robin could tell that he too was very happy to see him again. Mainly because he couldn't remember ever seeing Frederick with such a big smile on his face. It looked rather out of place on the usually strict and grumpy Great Knight.

They soon made it to the camp, that Chrom had build up near the place where they had found Robin. Apparently, not everyone of the Shepherds was able to come here today, meaning that it was only Chrom, Lissa, Frederick and a handful of their friends. Robin recognized Sully, Stahl, Vaike, Sumia, Gaius and Henry. They were all overjoyed when they saw him and Robin could barely handle all of the attention that he was getting, as all of them were talking to him at once.

"Figured you haven't kicked the bucket just yet. You may not look like it, but I know you're as tough as they come. You're one of us, Robin, and we shepherds don't go down so easily."

"It is great to finally see you again, Robin. Are you hungry? You probably haven't eaten anything in months! That sounds like a true nightmare to me."

"Hey buddy, good to see you. Don't worry. The Vaike was taking care of everything while you were gone."

"Oh Robin, my flower fortunes told me you would come back to us someday and I'm glad that this day is today. Chrom was so worried about you."

"Heh, I knew you would be back, Bubbles. You're not the type of guy who would simply disappear like that."

"Nyahahaha! What's it like being dead, Robin? Wait, actually, don't tell me! I don't want any spoilers!"

It filled Robin with glee to see so many of his friends again, but he at the same time he couldn't help but feel like something was off. Namely the noticeable lack of black-haired dark mages running towards him and hugging him aggressively. He couldn't see his wife anywhere, which was very odd, since he had a hard time imagining that Tharja wouldn't come with the others to celebrate his anniversary.

Thinking about his wife made Robin sigh deeply. The thought of facing Tharja after his sacrifice scared him a little. After they married, he had promised her that he would never leave her, but he had broken that promise when he gave up his life to defeat Grima. A bitter feeling spread across his body as he remembered the look in Tharja's eyes when she realized what he was about to do. The mixture of shock, sadness and anger on her face still made him shiver.

But at the same time he was very much looking forward to seeing her again. He would beg for her forgiveness and do his best to make up for his broken promise. Even though Tharja was the type of person who could really hold a grudge, Robin was confident that their relationship could return to normal. Well, maybe not normal, that was impossible with Tharja as his wife, but return to how it used to be.

Yet no matter where he looked, he couldn't find his wife anywhere. He decided to ask Chrom about her.  
"Hey Chrom, is there a chance that you know where Tharja is? I thought she would have come with you guys, but it seems she is not here."

Chrom, who was talking to Lissa at the moment, turned his head towards Robin to answer his friend's question.  
"Tharja stayed in Ylisstol. We let her have a room in the palace, but she couldn't come here today, because…"

"Wait Chrom! Don't tell him!" Lissa interfered. "He needs to find out for himself."

Lissa's words made Robin very confused and incredibly concerned. "What's wrong? What happened to her?!"  
His mind quickly filled itself with worries and he was scared beyond believe. He couldn't imagine a scenario in which Tharja would not come to his anniversary unless something very bad has happened to her.

Noticing that his friend was freaking out, Chrom tried to calm him down again. "Don't stress yourself Robin, Tharja is doing just fine." He paused for a moment and turned towards his sister. "Do you really think it would be better not to tell him? I feel like he will just unnecessarily worry himself if he doesn't know."

"Knowing Robin, he will probably unnecessarily worry himself even if he would know about it. I think it would be better if he finds out for himself." Lissa remarked.

"I'm not so sure about this. I mean, I get what you mean, but I think it would also be good if Robin gets some time to prepare himself before he meets her again." Chrom replied.

"Can you two please stop discussing what is good for me or not." Robin exclaimed in annoyance, feeling like this conversation was going nowhere. "I don't want time to prepare, I just want to see Tharja again as quickly as possible. Chrom, could you please ask Sumia if she can fly me to Ylisstol right now?"

"Of course. I'm sure she will gladly help you out. I will quickly go get her, because you look like you won't last much longer, if you don't see your wife within the next few hours." Chrom answered and hurried to find Sumia.

Robin impatiently started walking in circles as he waited for him to return. What Chrom said wasn't wrong. Robin couldn't stop worrying about Tharja. Even though Chrom claimed that she was okay, it seemed obvious to him that there was something wrong and now he wanted to be with her as quickly as possible. If Tharja needed help, he would be there to help her and if she was just fine, then he would feel relieved to see her again.

He tried to keep calm and breathe. Right now, he just needed to wait for Chrom to return with Sumia. Everything will be okay, he tried to convince himself.

* * *

Only a few minutes later, Robin found himself sitting behind Sumia on the back of a Pegasus far up in the sky.  
The air was icy-cold and the world below seemed tiny from up here. The fire of the camp that he had just been in, slowly vanished in the distance. Robin usually got a little uncomfortable to be so far away from the ground, but all that was on his mind right now was getting to his destination as soon as possible.

"Uhm, Sumia? I don't want to sound ungrateful, but could you fly a little faster?" He asked impatiently.

"I could, but it's going get a bit rough. You will have to hold on tight." Sumia answered and ordered her Pegasus to speed up.

Because of a lack of options, Robin had no other choice than to hold onto Sumia, so that he wouldn't fall off the Pegasus, as it accelerated. If Tharja would find out about this, she would undoubtedly get very angry at him for touching another woman, but Robin was way too concerned about her well-being to worry about her temper.

Thinking about his wife reminded him of the last time he saw her. Back when the shepherds were facing Grima, he had gotten the feeling that he wouldn't make it back from their last fight. But he had been ready for it. If it was really necessary for him to sacrifice himself to save his friends, then he was willing to do it.

His only regret had been leaving Tharja behind.

With all of his other friends he had been confident that they would eventually get over the fact that he was gone. He was sure that even Chrom would accept the loss of his friend with time, even if it would take a while. But with Tharja, he didn't know if she would ever get over it, if he left her. He had no idea how Tharja would deal with losing him and that had made Robin's decision a thousand times harder. But this had been for the greater good, he had to do it, even if it pained him.

Still, Robin had felt the need to give Tharja one more day of happiness and bliss before he would break her heart. The day before the shepherds reached the Volcano that Grima seemed to approach, Robin had planned to spend the entire day with his wife.

But when he looked back at this now, he felt like his actions may have been more selfish than he initially realized. Wouldn't his sacrifice hurt Tharja even more, after he had spent more time with her beforehand?

Maybe those last few hours that he spent with her, were something he did more so that he could get some feeling of closure, before he would vanish from this world. Maybe he made his wife's suffering much greater, by reminding her why she loved him, only to for him be gone the next day. Maybe his actions were actually cruel and egoistic.

The more time Robin spent thinking about it, the more irrational his thought-process became, as he guilt-tripped himself over what he did in the past.

* * *

After few hours of flying they finally reached Ylisstol. Sumia's Pegasus landed directly in the royal palace's garden, not far from the place were Lucina had revealed her face to Chrom for the first time all these years ago. The cold air of the high skies had left Robin freezing, but he barely noticed it, as his mind was still somewhere else.

"Sumia, do you know where Tharja is?" he asked the Pegasus Knight, who was looking after her exhausted steed.

"Chrom has given her your old office to live in, so I guess that she will probably be there. Unless she went for a walk or something. You still know where it is, right? Uh… Robin?"

Before Sumia had gotten the chance to finish her sentence, Robin already made his way to his old room.  
He had thought about Tharja during the entire flight and now his brain was exhausted. The only thing that he could still think about, was the way to his office.

As he finally reached his old chamber, he noticed that the door was still open. Peeking inside the room, he saw his wife sitting on a chair, her back turned to him. She looked like she was holding something, but from this angle he couldn't tell what it was.  
Robin swallowed nervously.

How should he approach her? What should he say? He quickly decided that he shouldn't waste too much time on considering his options and just go up and talk to her.

"Hello Tharja."

A short and simple introduction was all that he could come up with right now.  
Tharja noticeably twitched as she heard his voice, then she turned her head so quickly, Robin feared that she might hurt her neck. Her eyes widened at his sight and she immediately teared up.

"R-Robin… You are back…" Her voice sounded weak, as if she was in disbelief, but Robin could see the happiness in her eyes, even through all of her tears.

He expected her to rush towards him at an instant and throw herself onto him, but much to his surprise she lifted herself up from her chair very carefully.  
Then she turned around, giving Robin a chance to look at what she was holding.

His heart almost stopped. Tharja was carrying a baby in her arms. It looked like it was only a few months old, but he could already see some white hair growing on its scalp.

Robin's brain needed a moment to process what he was just seeing. During that time Tharja stepped closer to him. The baby in her arms prevented her from hugging him, so she simply leaned her head against his shoulder, tears still rolling down face.  
"I was always confident that I would see you again someday, my love." She looked into his eyes, feeling the need to talk to him, so that she could hear his voice again, but Robin was still staring at the baby in her arms.

The last night that he and Tharja had spent together… He never even considered the possibility that they could have conceived a child that day. It was still a little difficult for him to truly wrap his head around this.

"Do you want to hold her?" Tharja asked. Robin nodded silently.

"Look Noire, say hello to your father." She reached Robin the infant, who took her into his arms as gently and carefully as possible. Noire looked a little confused, but she eyed Robin curiously.

As soon as the baby left Tharja's hands, she rushed behind Robin, wrapped her arms around his waist, buried her face in the backside of his coat and hugged him aggressively, much like Robin had expected her to.  
But even though he had missed her so much just seconds ago, right now he barely even noticed that she was there. The young child in his arms occupied all of his attention right now.

"I'm a father."

The first words that he spoke after seeing Noire were just as simple and on the point as his introduction to Tharja earlier. He felt as if the recent events had removed the ability to form longer sentences from his brain.

He gently poked Noire with his finger and she grabbed it with her little baby-hands. A smile grew on Robin's face.  
But this smile didn't last long, as suddenly a depressing realization entered Robin's mind. Not only had he broken his promise to Tharja by sacrificing himself, but he had also left his unborn child alone without a father. He wasn't there when Tharja was carrying their child. He didn't support her when she gave birth to Noire. He wasn't able to help her at all during the year that he was gone. He had already felt bad before, but now the guilt was eating him up.

"Tharja, I'm so sorry that I left you all alone a year ago. I felt like it was the right thing to do, but I want you to know that it was not an easy choice for me. My biggest regret was not being able to see your smile anymore. I can't even imagine the amount of pain that I caused you when I left. If there is any chance that you can eventually forgive me, then that would be enough to make me very glad."

He couldn't see Tharja's face, but he noticed that her grip on him became tighter. Then he heard her voice, still sounding like she was fighting with her tears.

"Of course I will forgive you. But that doesn't mean that I can just ignore your betrayal. Now that you are back, I have plenty of time to punish you for leaving me..."  
Even though she tried her best to sound threatening, her voice betrayed her and she started sobbing loudly. Robin figured that it would be very difficult to appear intimidating while crying your eyes out. After Tharja found her voice again, she continued speaking. "Not today though, today I am too happy to be angry at you."

Hearing that made Robin feel relief. Even though Tharja's words made it clear that she was still very mad at him, they also gave him confidence that their relationship would be able to overcome this little grudge of her with time.

Her grip on him slowly grew even more fierce, to the point where it started to become a little painful for Robin, as he felt Tharja's sharp fingernails piercing him through his clothes. She had never hugged him so violently before and he got the feeling that she wasn't going to let go of him any time soon.  
This was okay, though. He wouldn't want her to let go of him anyway.

Noire managed to recapture Robin's attention, by letting out a yawn. It seemed it was time for her to get to sleep. Robin slowly moved her back and forth in his arms to calm her down some more, so that she would soon start to slumber.

"I will make up for every second that I wasn't there for you, I promise you that." He whispered quietly to his daughter as she closed her eyes. "And this time, I won't break my promise."

* * *

 _Author's note: Like I already mentioned at the beginning, this story is not really "canon" to the other chapters. For comparison, the previous story takes place around the same time as this one, but Robin was not missing for a whole year and Noire wasn't born yet. The next chapters I write will use the same "canon" as chapter 1 and 2._

 _This chapter also felt much harder to write than the previous ones. And I really mean significantly harder. I think I have difficulties writing stories that have more emotional impact on the characters and even though I am mostly satisfied with how this chapter turned out, I think for the next few chapters I will just stick to casual fluff stories without any greater emotional moments._

 _Thank you for reading my story. Please leave a review if you enjoyed it and have a nice day. Bye._


	4. Bedtime Stories

_Author's note: This story takes place a bit over eleven years after the events of Awakening._

* * *

 **Bedtime Stories**

It was a regular evening in the kingdom of Ylisse. The blue sky slowly turned into a colorful dawn and the merchants in the streets started closing their shops.  
In a simple house near castle Ylisstol Noire, the nine-year-old daughter of the master tactician Robin, and her seven-year-old sister Morgan prepared for bedtime. Their mother, the dark mage Tharja was happy that her children would finally go to sleep and that she would have time for herself, to work on her curses and potions. Usually Robin was the one to bring them to bed, but he was on a very important meeting with Chrom today and he had told her that it could take quite a while until he would return, meaning that Tharja had to look after their children alone.

After the two kids brushed their teeth and changed into their pajamas it was time for Tharja to say good night. "Sleep well, dream sweet and stop going on my nerves, okay?" She asked with a monotone voice. The dark mage was ready to leave her kids to the world of dreams, when she heard a voice call to her.

"But you haven't read us a good-night-story yet!" This voice belonged to Noire, who seemed very unwilling to stop being awake right now.

"A what?" Tharja asked, fearing that the little bit of free-time she had left for the day was in danger of being consumed by the seemingly unending task of being a parent.

"Papa always reads us a story before bedtime. It helps us sleep. If we don't get a good-night-story we will stay awake all night." Noire explained.

Tharja let out an annoyed sigh. Unlike Noire's future counterpart, the younger present-version of Noire was quite energetic. If she would try to stay awake all night it would only end in chaos. It seemed like it was necessary for Tharja to sacrifice what little free-time she had left, to get her kids to sleep.  
"Fine. But I will only read you a short story, understand?" The dark mage asked with a strict voice.

Noire and Morgan nodded eagerly and Morgan took a book from the night-stand next to her bed and gave it to her mother.  
"Papa bought this story-book for us. We are already by the fourth story." She exclaimed, proud of her good memory.

Tharja took the book and looked over the cover. It was a collection of old Ylissian fairytales from about twenty years ago. The cover displayed multiple happy children dancing on green fields. It looked disgustingly cheesy and overly cute to her, but as long as her children would finally be quiet, it was probably worth reading from.  
Trying not to waste time, so that she could get back to her curses as quickly as possible, Tharja opened the book and started looking for the story where Robin left off. After she found the fourth story she sat herself onto a chair between the two beds of her children and began to read.

"This story is called Hans and Greta.  
Once upon a time there was a small village full of friendly welcoming people. In the village everybody helped each other out and since it wasn't very big, most people knew each other very well. At first glance, this village would seem like a perfect place to grow up in, but there was one major flaw: The village had been built right next to a haunted forest. It was said that various monsters and shady creatures housed in these dangerous woods, which is why all the people in the village were too afraid to enter the forest. All of them except two young siblings named Hans and Greta."

Noire and Morgan adjusted themselves in their beds, eagerly listening to their bedtime story. Even though their mother wasn't reading the story nearly as enthusiastic as their father used to do it, their young minds were still captured by the fantastical world that the fable provided.

"These two found the haunted forest very interesting and wanted to play in it. So, one day they decided to go up to their parents and asked: _Mother? Father? Can we go into the woods? We want to play hide and seek, but we already know all the best hiding places in the village, so it's not fun anymore._

Their parents exchanged a concerned look and then their father decided to kneel down in front of them, to get on their eye-level and said: _I forbid you to ever enter the forest! It is too dangerous. I don't want to hear you talk about going there ever again, understand?_  
The kids were confused by their father's words. _Why are the woods so dangerous?_ Greta asked. Their father looked into their eyes with a very serious expression on his face.

 _I guess it is time that you learn about the true danger of the woods. Deep, deep in the forest there houses an evil dark mage. She lives in a gingerbread-house made of a variety of candy and she offers any children who visit her to eat from them, but every child who is fooled by her, ends up in her oven and gets eaten themselves._ "

Tharja interrupted herself to read the last two sentences a second time. She paused for a moment. Up until now she has paid very little attention to the story, but now she was slightly weirded out by it. She decided to skip a few pages and read further parts of the fable by herself.

Blah blah blah… The children get lost in the forest… Blah blah blah… They find the gingerbread house… Blah blah blah… The dark mage tries to eat them… Blah blah blah… The dark mage gets shoved into an oven and gets burned alive?!

She closed the book and thought about this for a moment. This dumb Ylissian fairy tale felt like an insult to her culture and her occupation. Dark mages living in gingerbread-houses and getting defeated by little children? What an inaccurate and straight up idiotic representation of the dark arts. She would have to have a serious word with Robin about the type of literature that he bought for their children.

It wasn't until she heard Noire's voice that Tharja remembered that her children were still awake. "Dark mages don't really eat children, right?" the young girl asked her mother. She tried to sound confident, but her voice betrayed her, revealing that she was a little hesitant. Meanwhile, Morgan just seemed very confused. "Maybe some of them eat children, because they have already used all of their candy to build their houses…" she said, trying to make sense of the story.

"Of course dark mages don't eat children! And they don't live in houses made of candy either! This fairy tale is just being ridiculous…"  
Tharja answered her daughter's questions. "Though I have heard that some sorcerers use children-bones as an ingredient for anti-aging-curses..." As she saw the startled expressions of her children she added "Relax, I was just joking. Don't worry about it."

But it had not been a joke. In the past, there were dark mages in Plegia who thought they could create a curse that would grant eternal youth, using the bones of young children. To Tharja's knowledge, none of these curses actually worked and had only resulted in an increase in the already high child-death quota of Plegia. Though in the end Tharja found it to be a better idea not to tell her children about that. It was because of people like these that dark mages had such a bad reputation.

Suddenly a provoking thought entered Tharja's mind. Since when did she care about the dark mage reputation? In the past, she had never been concerned about how dark magic was depicted outside of Plegia, in fact she relished in the fear that she saw in the eyes of other people whenever they found out that she practiced dark magic. Now that she thought about it, she probably wasn't completely innocent about giving dark mages a bad reputation herself.

And yet for some reason the thought that her daughters could get the wrong idea about dark magic felt like a slap to the face for her.  
"Mama? Why did you stop reading?" Once again Tharja was forced out of her thoughts by her children. She had made a decision.

"I won't be reading you from this book anymore, because this story is idiotic and complete and utter Wyvern-dung." Noire and Morgan lowered their heads in disappointment. "Instead, I will tell you an accurate story about dark mages." Their faces lit up again. After Tharja got rid of the stupid story-book, she took a moment to think about how her story should begin. She wanted to tell a story that was a little closer to reality, so maybe it would be a good idea to take real events as an inspiration. With that, the dark mage started telling her children her own fairytale.

"Once upon a time, in a country ruled by a tyrannical leader there lived a young dark mage and her name was… uhm... Let's call her Sallya. Sallya had trained in the dark arts since her childhood and took great enjoyment out of perfecting her skills in hexes and curses. Day after day she would spend hours alone in her laboratory working on new spells and potions. To some this life would seem joyless, but to Sallya this was all she ever knew and it was all she ever needed. Or at least that is what she had thought…

But then a day came that would change Sallya's life forever. The ruler of the land, the cruel and incredibly ugly King Buttface wanted more troops for his army."

Morgan giggled childishly when she heard the name of the king, but Tharja continued without letting herself get interrupted.

"The poor Sallya was forced to fight as a soldier for her country. All of those battles seemed so senseless to her, she didn't care for any of them. She didn't want anyone to tell her what to do! Yet she didn't have any choice. As much has she hated the evil King Buttface, his troops were too powerful, trying to rebel was foolish.

But then one day a golden opportunity opened itself up for Sallya, as a prince with hair as blue as sapphire came to put an end to the king's tyranny. His name was Prince Dork and even though he was very naive and tended to rush into things without a plan, he also had a good heart. So, when he saw Sallya during battle, uninterested in the fight, he came up to her and spoke. _You are a dark mage are you not? And yet you don't seem like you want to fight us. Why is that?_

Sallya answered truthfully. _I have no interest in fighting for a cause I don't believe in._

Prince Dork asked her: _Then would you consider joining our team? We could use any capable soldier we can get._

Sallya was surprised that the prince would suggest her to switch sides. Confused, she asked him why he would trust an enemy soldier. But Prince Dork simply smiled at her naively and said. _My sister would trust you and I try to be more like her. Not to mention that I always have to watch my back anyway. So, what do you say? Are you going to help us on our quest to defeat King Buttface?  
_  
Sallya thought about it for a moment, but it didn't take her very long to come to a conclusion. She hated working for the King and she wanted to decide to live her life how _she_ wanted and not how some idiot on a throne commanded it for her. She decided that she would do it. She would betray her king and join the prince's forces.

 _For the time being, you can consider me your ally, Prince Dork. Tell me, who shall I hex first?_ She asked the prince, already feeling the adrenaline caused by rebelling against her country."

"Say Mama, is Sallya going to marry the Prince in the end?" Noire asked curiously, a part of her already hoping that her mother's story would have some kind of romance involved, as she liked romantic stories the most.

Tharja meanwhile, was disgusted at the mere thought of Noire's suggestion. "What?! Gods no! Don't make me vomit! Also, don't interrupt me! You will get all of your answers much quicker if you would just be quiet and listen."

After she got the horrendous mental image of Sallya and Prince Dork in a romantic relationship out of her head, Tharja continued her story: "Where was I? Oh, right. So Sallya was now a part of Dork's army and she had to find out that his army was pretty bizarre. A knowledge-obsessed scientist, a candy-addicted thief, a childlike dragon and an invisible knight were just a few of the many strange people she encountered among the soldiers. Sallya had expected that she wouldn't fit in with the others, but she had to realize that nobody here seemed like they truly _fit in_ , which meant that, in a strange way, she never fitted better to a group of people.

But there was one person who caught Sallya's attention more than any other. A brilliant strategist with a heart of gold. A man capable of keeping a cool head even under the highest of pressures. And his name was Rob- …bert! Yes, his name was Robert.

Sallya was incredibly intrigued by him. Most of the people she knew were either smart, but mean-spirited or friendly, but idiotic. Yet Robert was different. He was clever and cunning, but he always kept a calm and welcoming demeanor around his friends. As Sallya watched him like this, she noticed a particular feeling growing inside of her heart. A strange feeling that she had never felt before. A feeling that…"

"Was she in love?!" Noire asked impatiently as ever, interrupting her mother once again. But this time Tharja didn't mind, as she smiled at her daughter with eyes filled with nostalgia and answered.

"Yes. I suppose she was…

Anyway, Sallya was unsure how she should deal with these new feelings, so she decided to watch Robert from the distance. With each passing day she learned more about him and her affection for the tactician grew. One day Robert noticed that Sallya was watching him. He was shocked and called her creepy and disturbing. This wasn't the first time someone has called Sallya disturbing, but it was the first time that those words actually hurt her. She didn't understand what she did wrong, she just wanted to help.  
In the following days she tried her best to find the right way to win Robert's affection, but no matter what she did she failed.

That is until one day where she was following Robert around as usual, when suddenly he collapsed right in front of her eyes. Sallya was shocked and scared. Concerned, she rushed to the unconscious Robert. His forehead was boiling, but he was still breathing. Sallya's heart was beating twice as fast as usual and her mind was racing. It was clear that Robert was suffering from an intense fever, so she tried putting her magical knowledge to good use and concoct a cure for him. After about an hour of treating the unconscious tactician, Sallya felt like he would be okay and finally took a break to sit down and breathe for a minute. She watched over Robert for almost another half hour until he eventually regained his conscience.

When she noticed that he was awake, she was happy, but also a little scared. How would he react? Would he accuse her of putting him to sleep? Would he be disgusted by the thought that she had been so close to him?

But Robert didn't seem to think any of these things. Instead, he thanked her for helping him out and asked if she could stay for a while. Sallya was very confused by his behaviour. What has changed? Why was he not creeped out by her anymore? Was he so intrigued by her saving him from fever? Was he just being nice? Or was he…"

"Mama! When are you going to tell us how they defeated King Buttface? All this talking is boring!" Morgan shouted.

"Morgan, it's not nice to interrupt Mama." Noire scolded her sister, despite having done the exact same thing earlier. "Don't you see? Sallya and Robert are falling in love! I hope they married and find happiness together."

Tharja already liked Noire's taste in couples. Then again, Noire seemed to go through some kind of weird phase in which she saw any kind of romance as something incredibly beautiful, so was her approval really worth anything?  
Meanwhile, Morgan seemed like any type of action or suspense would satisfy her. And even though Morgan had interrupted her very rudely, she was still kind of right. It was probably time to talk about how Robert, Sallya and Dork faced off against King Buttface.

"While Sallya was still thinking about her last encounter with Robert, Prince Dork's troops reached the Buttface-fortress. Thousands of enemy-soldiers already awaited them. Prince Dork drew his sword and started slashing through the enemy-lines. Robert used his magic tome to support his friend by shocking any adversary in sight with thunder magic. However, Sallya saw that Robert didn't notice an especially sneaky assassin who was ready to strike. In the blink of an eye Sallya threw herself between Robert and the assassin and took the hit for the person she loved. A sharp pain passed through Sallya's body as the blade cut the skin of her left arm. Despite her pain she managed to use her spellbook to finish off the assassin.

When Robert noticed what was happening, he rushed towards Sallya and asked her if she was okay. But Sallya simply replied: _I am fine. I used Nosferatu on him, so my wounds are healed again. You don't need to worry about getting hurt anymore. I will protect you with anything I have and I can heal myself, so you don't have to worry about me either.  
_  
But Robert didn't seem pleased at all. _What are you talking about? Of course, I will worry about you. Even if you can heal yourself, you still feel the pain of getting hurt. I don't want to see you suffer just to protect me.  
_  
 _But…_ Sallya tried to say something, but she was interrupted by Robert.

 _Just fight alongside me. We can do this together._

Sallya was mesmerized by his words. Her mind was racing, her blood was pumping and for a moment she forgot all about the war. After she managed calm herself, Sallya noticed that Robert was still looking at her and she nodded silently. She couldn't quite find the words to answer him, she just felt so happy."

Tharja took a moment to catch her breath. She had gotten much more into this story than she thought she would. Morgan looked already very sleepy, while Noire was still very much awake. Still, it was already late and she needed to come up with an ending. She had originally wanted to keep her story close to reality, but maybe she should just try to find a way to shorten her story a little and skip over some of the not so important aspects. Trying to get this over with quickly, she decided to continue her now much less reality-like story.

"King Buttface sent more and more troops their way, but thanks to Robert's brilliant strategies Dork's army managed to keep their pace towards the king. When the last soldiers fell King Buttface stood alone on the battlefield. He had no friends, no allies. It should have been easy to finish him off. But King Buttface had one last ace up his sleeve.

 _Ha! You think you have won? You haven't even seen my true power yet!  
_ The king shouted. Then suddenly he started glowing with a purple light and his body began to grow. The villainous king turned into a demonic dragon! He was bigger than buildings and had teeth the size of a human.

 _Prepare to die foolish mortals!_ The dragon said with a grin on his face.

Dork's troops tried to fight him, but to no avail. No weapon did any damage and magic and arrows simply bounced off his scales. To make things even worse the dragon spoke an ancient magic spell and resurrected his fallen soldiers. They raised from the ground as undead warriors with glowing red eyes, ready to destroy anyone in their path. Everyone in Dork's army fought the risen enemies with great vigor, but the battle seemed hopeless with an invincible dragon as their opponent.

Even though the fighting was continuing loudly, Robert was lost in thoughts. Sallya did her best to keep all of the undead soldiers away from him, while he observed the dragon and tried to figure out a way to defeat him. Sallya trusted him to come up with a solution and it didn't take long for her trust in him to pay off.

 _I've got it!_ He suddenly shouted. _The way he moves… It looks like he is trying to never show us his back, but I managed to get a glimpse of it. I think he has a weak-spot on the backside of his neck.  
_  
 _So, what should we do?_ Sallya asked.

 _I have a plan. And I'm going to need your help._

After Robert informed the others about his idea, they prepared to execute the tactician's plan.

Robert and Sallya combined their magical powers and shot a double Thoron directly at the dragon's face. Angered, he turned his head towards the two mages, ready to blast them with his fiery breath, when Robert shouted _Now!_

Prince Dork, who had taken a ride on the Pegasus of one of his friends, jumped down onto the dragon's back and pierced the demonic beast's weak-spot with his legendary sword. The dragon screamed in pain and fell to the ground with a loud bang. The undead soldiers turned into clouds of dust, confirming that the dragon light of life had been extinguished.

The dragon was defeated and the war finally ended. Even though she didn't want to admit it, Sallya was overjoyed to see the world return to its peaceful state. Prince Dork was crowned King Dork and he became a kind and benevolent ruler. Though, far more important was what happened to Sallya. She was questioning what she should do, now that the war was over, when she suddenly noticed that Robert was approaching her.

 _Hey Sallya, can I talk to you for a moment? He asked. I just wanted to tell you how much I appreciate your help and all the things you do for me._

 _There is no need for thanks, Robert. I'm just doing these things because I want to._ "

Tharja felt a little frustrated, because she couldn't find the words, that she needed to make this moment of the story as powerful as she wanted it to be. Trying her best to make recreate the emotional impact that she had once felt, she continued her story.

"Robert looked a little nervous, which made Sallya confused about what was going on.

 _Sallya, I'm just going to go out and say it. I think that I have feelings for you. That I like you more than usual. And this is why I want to give you this._

He kneeled down in front of her, holding a beautiful ring in his hand.

 _Sallya, will you marry me?_

Sallya heart almost stopped when she heard those words. Was she dreaming? Was this really happening? Did Robert truly feel the same she did? She was so shocked she couldn't bring out a single word.

 _Sallya, are you okay? Do you need to sit down?_ Robert asked concerned.

Finally Sallya managed to stammer a sentence. _I think I just time to need process what you said. It's so hard to believe that this is actually happening. This is too much at once._

 _It's okay, we don't have to rush this. We can take this relationship at whatever pace you are comfortable with. I just want to make you just as happy as you make me._ Robert said to calm her down.

This still felt too much like a dream to Sallya, but she wanted it to be real so much.  
She considered giving Robert a hug, but she was overwhelmed by the thought of having Robert watching her, while they were so close to each other. She decided to sneak behind him and hug his backside instead. Sallya felt more comfortable here, at least for now.

 _This feels nice… I think you already made me happier than I have ever been in my life._  
Sallya said, while cuddling his back and smiled.

 _Knowing this makes me happier as well. I love you Sallya._ Robert responded.

Three weeks later they were married and…"

But before Tharja could end her story, Noire finished her mother's sentence for her. "And then they lived happily ever after and they loved each other very much and they had ten kids!"

"Gods no! Two children are already more than enough work! But I suppose you got the rest pretty much spot on. They had a great life and they were very happy." Tharja said. She noticed that Morgan had dozed off during the ending and she hoped that Noire would soon do the same. "So, I told you a story, now you start sleeping, understand?"

"I really liked this story, mother. Do you think you can tell us next time what happened to Sallya and Robert after the war? They must have had even more adventures, right?" Noire asked curiously. She sounded a bit tired.

"Your father will be back by tomorrow. He can tell you your bedtime stories again."

"Maybe you can tell us stories together." Noire suggested and yawned loudly. Her tiredness finally seemed to be catching up with her.

Tharja took a moment to think about Noire's suggestion. Robin and her sitting in these cozy chairs, sharing stories and memories with their children. That actually didn't sound that bad. "Maybe… But only if you…" Tharja interrupted herself, when she noticed that Noire had already fallen asleep.

Now there was nothing holding her in the room anymore. She could just leave and finally work on some of her curses. Tharja briefly considered this, then she looked at the calm, peaceful faces of her daughters.

It was already very late… Maybe she would just stay here for a while and watch over her children. She still had time to work on her curses tomorrow.

Her daughters looked really cute when they slept. Just like their father…

* * *

 _Author's note:_ _The story that Tharja tells is obviously based on the story from Awakening from her perspective, but the ending noticeably differs from the actual ending of the game. Mainly because Tharja didn't want retell the entire story of Awakening (and I didn't want to rewrite the entire story of Awakening either)._

 _You may have noticed that the story from Morgan's fairy-tale-book is heavily inspired by the popular fairy-tale Hänsel and Gretel. However, there is a bit more to Ylissean version of the story. It was actually meant to be Anti-Plegia-propaganda that originated from the time when Chrom's father started a war against Plegia. Even though Ylisse and Plegia are now at peace, the children-stories from that time are still around. I didn't know how to incorporate this into the actual chapter, but it is supposed to be the fairy-tale's origin._

 _The one disadvantage of writing the relationship of Robin and Tharja from Tharja's perspective, is that it doesn't really allow me to explain the reasons why Robin fell in love with her, but I am planning to write a story that explores exactly that for the next capter._

 _Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed it. Have a nice day. Bye!_


	5. Parental Advice

_Author's note: This story takes place sometime after Noire and Morgan are recruited._

* * *

 **Parental Advice**

It was an average day in the Ylissean army and most of the shepherds were busy training to improve their skills for the upcoming battles. This meant that the army's camp was filled with the sounds of clashing swords, screeching wyvern and magical incantations.

As the soldiers steeled themselves for the war, their tactician Robin was sitting inside his tent at his desk working on strategies as always. To some the tumult going on would be way too distracting to work properly, but Robin had been with the shepherds for long enough to be able to mentally fade out the noises from outside.  
His mind was completely captured by his books, ignoring all of the sounds of the battling soldiers, when suddenly someone stormed loudly into his tent, making him jump up in shock.

"Hey father, what are you doing and can it wait for a minute? I want to ask you something."

Robin would recognize this cheery voice anywhere. Morgan, the younger one of his two children, had just entered his tent, as energetic and lively as always. He turned around to see a big smile on his daughter's face.

"Well, I was working, but of course I will gladly answer your question." Robin answered, though after a moment of thinking he added. "Unless this is about borrowing my tomes for your stacking games again, in which case the answer is no, you can't have them."

Morgan giggled, presumably thinking about the last time she built a tower of books.  
"No, it has nothing to do with that. You see, there is this boy that I'm interested in, but even though I have already spent a lot of time with him, he seems oblivious to the fact that I like him. I thought that you as master tactician would have some tips when it comes to strategies in love. What do you think I should do?"

Robin was slightly taken aback by this. He would have never expected Morgan to ask him a question about boys, let alone in such a direct and casual manner.  
"You are interested in a boy? Do you mean that in a romantic sense?" He asked, trying to make sure he had understood her correctly.

"Well of course, what else could I mean? Now tell me father, what do you think is the best way to make him my boyfriend?" Morgan asked eagerly. Once again, her casual tone surprised Robin. To him romance was something very intimate and private, so hearing Morgan talk about this in such a nonchalant way was a bit off-putting for him. She must have gotten this from her mother.

"Make him your… Don't you think you are a bit too young to have a boyfriend yet? Maybe you should wait a few years before you start dating anyone." Robin said, unsure how he should approach this situation that he had suddenly found himself in. This was all going a bit too quick for him.

"Why? We don't even know how old I really am so how can you even say that I'm too young? Besides, Noire has a boyfriend and I don't see you telling her to wait." Morgan argued.

"That is because Noire is clearly older than you." And also, because Noire can be very scary and I don't want to anger her, Robin added in his head. Though he felt it was better to not let his daughter know about this.

"She is not that much older." Morgan replied a little grumpy.

"I'm just very concerned for you. While I am often impressed by your intelligence and creativity, you also tend to have poor judgmental skills at times. I mean, how can you know if this guy is even the right one for you? I think that it would be better if you wait until you matured a bit, so that you can make more clear-headed decisions."

"I can be mature. I just need to put on my serious face and then I can make very clear-headed decisions. I already know that I am in love, I just don't know how to approach this situation properly. That's why I need some advice."

"Love is such a strong word… Say, what's his name anyway?" Robin asked in an attempt to change the subject a little bit. Gaining more information about Morgan's love-interest would be very beneficial for him in this discussion.

"You know what? I think I don't want to tell you that. You are acting very strange today, father. I fear that if I tell you, you will end up sending him into the front-lines." Morgan said with a stubborn expression on her face.

"So it is someone from this army." Robin concluded, making Morgan gasp, as she realized that she had given away more information than intended.  
"But Morgan, do you really believe that I would risk the life of one of our soldiers just because my daughter has a crush on him?"

"No, but I also believed that you would be supportive when I ask you for help, but instead you act as if you have no trust in me at all. I can make my own decisions and I can take care of myself!"

Robin had never seen Morgan so annoyed. It was making him almost a little uncomfortable, but he still tried to explain himself.  
"It's not that I don't trust you to make your own decisions…" He stopped and thought. Technically, that was exactly what was going on. Morgan had a tendency to not think things through, which could occasionally end badly for her and / or the people around her. He wasn't sure if he wanted her to dive into something as complicated as love with her current mindset.

While Morgan continued to glare at him with a frustrated expression, Robin struggled to explain himself to her. "Look, I just don't want you to do something that you might regret later."

"But if I want to start dating someone, then I have to take action now. I can't just sit around and wait for the opportunity to pass and if you don't want to help me, then I will just do this on my own." With that Morgan stomped out of her father's tent angrily, glancing one last time at him before leaving completely. Robin considered calling after her and telling her to come back, but decided against it. She seemed unusually mad at him and currently he didn't know what to say to calm her down, so maybe it was smarter to let her go let off some steam and then attempt to talk to her again a few hours later, when they both had collected their thoughts some more.

The tactician tried to return to his strategy-book, but thoughts about his daughter still lingered inside his head.

* * *

Morgan stomped through the camp, missing her signature smiling expression. She was angry at her father for being so overprotective, but at the same time she felt awful for being mad at him. Why has she gotten so furious? Even she herself was a little surprised by that. She and her father had always worked together so well and they had always understood each other perfectly. She didn't remember them ever getting into an argument before, so the fact that they disagreed with each other so drastically just now, made her feel a bit down.

But she needed to keep looking forward. If her father wouldn't help her out, then she should try to get advice from someone else and she already knew exactly who that someone would be. Morgan managed to find her smile her again and started looking for her mother.

The young tactician considered where she could be at this time of the day. She knew that her mother spent the vast majority of her free time either clinging to father or doing magical experiments (or both), so seeing how father had been alone just now that meant that mother must be working on her hexes somewhere.

This meant that the most likely place for her to be was near the tent where the shepherds kept all of their magical inventory. Tharja was basically responsible for managing and organizing all magical items that the shepherds used. A task that she had taken from Robin at some point after their marriage, so that he would have less work to do.

When Morgan reached the tent, her assumption was confirmed. She found her mother inside, mixing some kind of potion in a big cauldron in front of her. The red liquid was steaming, filling the tent with an unpleasant smell. A few very small eyeballs were swimming in the potion and Morgan could have sworn that she had seen a tentacle popping out of the brew for just a moment.

She managed to tear her eyes from the strange concoction, as she remembered the reason why she was here in the first place. Morgan turned to the dark mage, who had still not noticed her daughter's presence and announced herself. "Hey mother. You look like you would just love to answer a few questions that I have for you."

"Not really, but I get the feeling you are going to ask them anyway." Tharja answered without looking up from her cauldron, making Morgan question whether she really didn't notice her before or if she simply didn't acknowledge her presence.

"I thought you could help me get the attention of a guy that I'm interested in. I wanted to ask father, but he is acting very obnoxious for some reason, so I came to you for help. Surely you can tell me how you won father's love." Morgan explained with a hopeful expression.

Now her mother finally decided to look up from her work and into her daughter's puppy-eyes. She seemed surprised at Morgan's words, but the young tactician couldn't tell for sure, since her mother's facial expressions were very hard to read. "I don't think that I am really the most qualified person to ask for help. Honestly, I have no idea how I won your father's affection. I tried so many different things… Not everything always worked and it's hard to say what did and what didn't." Tharja explained in a dismissive tone, but Morgan was not ready to give up just yet.

"Then just tell me about everything you did. I have time."

Her mother rolled her eyes, but she complied. "Fine, I guess I can briefly go over a few things that I did to get your father's attention. But I can't guarantee that anything I tell you, will help you in any way." She took a moment to remember her early relationship with her husband. "Let's see, at first I simply tried observing him. I studied his every movement, memorizing each detail about his behavior no matter how insignificant. I even watched him while he slept."

While her mother was talking, Morgan had pulled out a notebook and started writing down notes about her mother's advice.  
"So, I am supposed to get as much information about my crush as possible? Makes sense. It actually reminds me of one of the most important rules of being a tactician. Knowing your opponent is the key to victory! Father taught it to me, when we were studying war-strategies together. But I am sure that these rules apply to romances as well, right mother?"

"Uhh… I guess?" Tharja said, clearly having no idea what Morgan was talking about.  
"Anyway, after I had a private conversation with your father, I realized that simply observing him is not going to help me in the long run. This is why…"

The dark mage's story was interrupted by a wet plopping sound and Morgan noticed that a tentacle had fallen out of the cauldron and was winding itself on the ground as if it was trying to escape. Tharja simply picked it up and threw it back into the red liquid without a word, then she continued as if nothing has happened.

"Well anyway, after just observing him for so long, I figured that the next best step for me would be to try being normal and acting like everyone else. I thought that this was what Robin wants, but I can already tell you that trying to be normal doesn't work. All I ended up doing was pretending to be someone I was not and that didn't help me at all. I advise you to just stick to being you and don't try to be someone else."

"Well, that one is easy. I'm awesome at being myself. What else did you do?"

Tharja sighed. "You really are very persistent with this, aren't you? I'm honestly surprised that you of all people need help to get someone's attention. You never seemed like the type of person who struggles with making friends. I have seen you interact with the other shepherds. Everybody loves you. You are probably the most popular person in this army."

"Oh, that's very nice of you to say, mother." Morgan thanked her, while blushing a little. It was true that she made friends with almost everyone in this army, but she had never considered the thought that she might be the most popular person here,

"I'm not being nice. I'm just stating facts." Tharja clarified.

"I still think it's nice, so thank you for the compliment. But anyway, even if I made a lot of friends, I don't have any experience with making guys fall in love with me. You meanwhile managed to do it at least once, so that makes you more experienced by default."

"I feel like there is a flaw in your logic somewhere, but I guess I can spare a few more minutes for you."

"Yay!" Morgan readied her pencil, knowing that she would take advantage of every minute she could get. Her mother was being much more cooperative than her father, which was very unusual, but she was happy that at least someone was helping her.

* * *

After he had finished studying the content of his newest strategy-book, Robin decided that it has been enough time for Morgan to calm down a bit and that he should start looking for her. Their conversation earlier had ended in less than ideal terms and he hoped that Morgan has had some time to think about what he had said, so that they could talk about the subject again. Hopefully with a better conclusion than last time.

While trying to find out where his mischievous daughter was hiding, he stumbled across Tharja, who seemed very pleased to see him.  
"Hello my love, you are just the person who I was looking for. I have a little request for you."

"Uh… Can your request maybe wait a few minutes? I am a little busy right now and I really need to find Morgan. Do you have any idea where she could be?" Robin asked.

"She came to me about an hour ago and asked for advice on getting some guy's attention. You know that I am not really good with that sort of stuff, so I simply told her about all the things that I tried to get your attention before we married." Tharja explained. Robin's heart nearly skipped a beat when he heard that.  
"You did what!? Where is Morgan now?!"

"She said something about wanting to apply her new-found knowledge. I don't know where she went, though."  
Robin screamed internally and his mind was racing. "This is really bad. I need to find her quickly. See you later Tharja." With that he already stormed off to prevent a potential disaster, leaving a slightly confused Tharja behind. He loved Tharja, but he couldn't imagine her giving anything that even resembled good advice when it came to romance.

Luckily for the tactician, it didn't take long for him to find his future child. She was simply walking through the camp, her head still in her notebook eagerly writing, scratching words out and rewriting them, while not paying nearly as much attention to her surroundings as would be necessary.

"There you are Morgan." Robin said, while trying to catch his breath. "You have been talking to your mother, right?"

"Yup, she just gave me some useful tips, so that I can win my crush over. Unlike a certain someone who wasn't willing to help me." She remarked, making it clear that she was still not quite over their conversation from earlier.

"Oh gods, what did she tell you?" Robin asked, preparing himself for the worst.

"She just told me that I should start by getting to know him better. I should try to be supportive and help him out if I notice that he has a problem. She also said that it is important for me to always be myself when talking to him and not to make up a fake persona."

That… That actually wasn't such bad advice. Robin was a little surprised by what he had just heard. Maybe he had underestimated Tharja.

"Now, if you would please excuse me. It is getting late and I need to make the necessary preparations so that I can observe my crush's sleeping habits tonight."

Or maybe he had been completely right not to trust Tharja when it comes to romance.

"Morgan, can you even hear what you are saying? You really shouldn't listen to everything that your mother told you. I will admit that it sounds like not all of her advice was awful, but I can already tell that she is not the best influence for you."

Yet Morgan didn't look like she wanted to agree with him. "First you refuse to help me and now you don't even want to let others help me? What do you want from me?"

"Morgan, I _do_ want to help you, but you can't just stalk someone to make them love you."

"Well, it worked on you, didn't it?"

"I… That doesn't… You can't… I didn't marry Tharja because she stalked me, I married her despite her stalking."

"But then what _is_ the reason you married her? This all would be a lot easier if you would just tell me!" Morgan exclaimed, clearly fed up with the fact that their conversation was once again going nowhere.

Robin sighed, but she was probably right. Maybe if he opened up to her a bit more, she would be able to understand why he acted the way he did.  
"Fine I will tell you. But it is a bit of a long story, so listen carefully. It all started after Chrom recruited your mother from the Plegian army. She fell in love with me almost instantly, but she clearly wasn't used to being in love and her signs of affection made me very uncomfortable. I was incredibly creeped out by her and the fact that she used to belong to our enemies didn't make things better.

Don't tell Chrom, but I don't always trust his judgment when it comes to new recruits, which is why I usually try to keep some of the shadier people he recruits in check. And due to her creepy behavior Tharja was the shadiest and most questionable new recruit that the shepherds had gotten so far.

But as I kept my eyes on her during the next few weeks to check if she was truly being cooperative and not just a Plegian spy, I was surprised by what I found out. While she was acting rude and had a tendency to threaten people, I also noticed that she would often help everyone who had a problem and do nice things to others. I was taken aback by how much of a positive impact she had on the shepherds."

"So that's the reason why you fell in love with her!" Morgan concluded.

"Oh, no, far from it. That was merely enough for me to not be so creeped out by her anymore. I started to see Tharja in a new light and while I still thought that she was very weird, I also decided to tolerate her around me. I wanted to give her a chance, since I knew that she meant well, even if her methods of helping were a little unorthodox at times.

Then one day, I passed out in the open due to a fever as well as unhealthy amount of work that I did in the last few days. Tharja helped to nurse me back to health and I could tell that her affection for me was genuine.

In the following days I would often notice a lot of little things that made my life easier. Sometimes when I was working on a cold day, a hot cup of tea seemed to appear out of nowhere next to me. And whenever I would fall asleep while reading late at night at my desk, I would wake up with a warm blanket wrapped around me. Even though I never saw her, I could tell that this was Tharja's doing. As time went on, she became like some sort of unofficial assistant to me."

"You mean like Frederick to Chrom?" Morgan asked curious. Her little grudge from earlier seemed to have been completely replaced by a fascination about her parents love-story.

"Kinda I guess…" Except that Frederick doesn't watch Chrom while he sleeps. Probably…  
"Well, as I was saying, I really grew to appreciate all the things that she did for me. She took care of me when I was sick, she always tried her best to make me relax a bit, she even cooked for me from time to time. Not to mention that we were practically unstoppable when we fought together on the battlefield.

I did realize that at times Tharja went a little too far with the things she did to help me, but I had way more important things to worry about. I was under a lot of stress during that time. Heck, I'm still under a lot of stress most of the time.

Chrom always told me that I should let others help me, because it would be bad for me to try and do everything by myself. And even though I felt guilty for dumping my problems onto someone else, I realized that Chrom was right. I did need someone to support me and Tharja was the one who was willing to take any burden for me. She essentially became my right-hand woman.

As time went on, my appreciation for her turned into a dependence. Soon I wasn't sure what I would do without Tharja. With her dedication and her magic, she managed to make my life a lot easier and I deeply cared for her as well, which is why there was only one logical course of actions. I decided to propose to her."

"Oh, that is adorable!" Morgan squealed with excitement.

"Well, I'm not quite sure about that. I actually have some regrets about my proposal to your mother…"

"What?! Are you saying you don't want to be married to mother anymore?!" The young tactician was visible shocked by the idea that the spark of her parent's love had already faded. But Robin quickly corrected her.

"No, that's not what I meant. I just think that I proposed to her too early. I appreciated and depended on her, but at the time I asked for her hand in marriage, we hadn't really bonded in the romantic sense. It wasn't until we spent more time together as a couple and grew closer and more intimate with each other that I realized what it really meant to be in love with someone.

I know that I am not a very romantic person. That is one thing that I have in common with your mother. Neither of us really knew what true love was and that let to many awkward moments during the beginning of our relationship. I still remember how Tharja acted after I proposed to her. She was so nervous and uncomfortable, she couldn't even look me in the eyes. Clearly, we haven't been ready for marriage yet, but we didn't know any better. I should have waited until we grew more comfortable with each other before I asked her to be my wife."

"But everything worked out fine, didn't it? I can see that you are happy together now."

"Yes, I would consider myself truly lucky to find someone who loves me as deeply as your mother does, but our relationship had been a very bumpy road.

Your mother and I have made a lot of mistakes in the past. She was a little bit too overzealous when trying to get my attention and I might have been too tolerant of her behavior sometimes. She confessed her love to me way too early and I ended up proposing to her way too early. The early days of our marriage were a bit of a mess and it took quite some time until we managed to form a functional romantic relationship.

This is why I was a little scared when you said that you were interested in a boy. I just don't want you to make the same mistakes that I did. But the more I think about it the more I realize that I still know barely anything about how love works. It's beautiful, but also very confusing. If there is one advice that I can give you, then it is to take things slow and don't try to rush it and I'm sure you will find the right person as well." With that he ended his story about Tharja and him and looked at his daughter who seemed to be thinking about what he had just told her. After a short moment of silence, she spoke.

"Thank you for telling me this, father. I'm sorry that I got angry with you earlier." Morgan gave him a sad smile, then she ran up to him and trapped him in a hug.  
"I didn't want to be mad at you, I really didn't. I should have known that you only wanted what is best for me."

Robin was a little surprised by Morgan's sudden change in demeanor, but he happily reciprocated the hug and patted her gently on the head. "It's not your fault. I shouldn't have tried to interfere with your love-life. You are a smart woman, Morgan, and you are capable of making your own decisions." He released her of their hug.  
"But uhm… Okay, I have to ask this... You weren't actually going to watch your crush while he sleeps, right? Please tell me you were only messing with me."

"Well, I thought if it worked for mother it would maybe work for me too, though I admit it did seem a little odd. Maybe it's for the best that you stopped me. Otherwise that probably would have ended up being the second-weirdest thing I have ever done."

"Yeah, I can imagine that that would… Hey, wait a second. What is the weirdest thing that you have ever-" Before Robin got the chance to finish his sentence, his daughter interrupted him.

"Well anyway, thanks for the advice father. It was really great talking to you. I have to go now, bye!" Morgan exclaimed before quickly running off.

"Morgan wait!" Robin tried to stop her, but she was already gone. He sighed. Hopefully she would take the things he said seriously. He really wanted to trust her with this, but he couldn't deny that a part of him still had doubts. Was he really making the right decision by letting her handling this all by herself?

"Oh Morgan…" Robin mumbled to himself. Suddenly his thoughts were interrupted, as he heard a familiar cackle from behind his back.  
"Tharja, is that you?" He asked the source of the laughter, already knowing the answer.

"Who else?" The sorceress responded as she appeared from behind a tent. "I see that you have finished talking to Morgan. That means that you have time for me now, right? I already told you that I need your help, remember?" She laid her hands onto Robin's shoulders and looked at him lovingly. "Also, I should tell you that I think that you are a very romantic person. I always feel like I am in heaven when you try to make me happy. So, I don't want to ever hear you saying that you're not romantic again."

"Wait… You were listening just now?!" Robin asked, surprised, questioning how long Tharja had been hiding in the shadows.

"I am always listening." Tharja answered with a smirk. "Now tell me, do you have time to come to my laboratory and test a potion for me? I made it earlier today. It's supposed to heighten the senses and reflexes of anyone who drinks it and I need to observe the effects in action so that I know how well it works."

Robin stared into the dark mage's purple eyes, considering her suggestion. Testing Tharja's magic potions wasn't exactly his favourite activity. Primarily since almost all of her concoctions taste worse than rotten milk. But after having just talked about all the things that she had done for him in the past, he decided that Tharja probably deserved that he would help her out more often as well. It's the least he could do for the person who always tried to support him whenever she could. Besides, this particular potion sounded like it could be quite useful in the upcoming battles.

"How can I say no to you if you look at me like that, my little cuddle-witch." He gave her a little kiss on the nose. Then, much to Tharja's surprise, he decided to pick her up into his arms. Tharja was visibly startled by her husband's unexpected actions. "Robin, what are you doing?"

Robin simply grinned at her. "If you really think that I am a very romantic person, then I should try a bit harder to be someone worthy of this kind of praise. And a truly romantic husband wouldn't let his own wife walk home by foot. He would carry her on his bare hands to show just how much he cares!" He exclaimed in a slightly more exaggerated tone than Tharja was used to, but she started giggling anyway. It wasn't often that Robin showed his goofier side (at least not intentionally), but that made it only more satisfying for her to know that she was allowed to see this side of him.

Robin noticed that his wife seemed to enjoy his enthusiasm, even though she probably had no idea where it was coming from. As he carried Tharja towards her laboratory, which was placed in the tent where the shepherds kept their magical equipment, he decided to ask her a question that had found its way into his mind just now.

"Hey Tharja, did Morgan tell you who she has a crush on?" He asked his wife, hoping to sate his curiosity.

"No, she didn't. Should we try to find out who it is? I'm sure she went to talk to him after your conversation with her." Tharja proposed.

"Are you suggesting that we spy on our own daughter?! We can't do that! I just managed to convince her that stalking is wrong!"

"Fine." A devilish grin formed itself on Tharja's face. "Then how about we make a little bet instead?"

Robin looked at his wife in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"We both try to guess who Morgan's crush is. I assume that we are going to find out eventually and when we do and I am right, then you will have to spend one- No, three days just with me and no one else."

Robin thought about Tharja's proposal. "Okay, but if I am right, then you will have to stop following me for three whole days and spent some time socializing with the other shepherds instead." He responded. "I feel like you have been improving in this regard already, but I also think that you could need another push."

Tharja didn't seem quite so happy with Robin suggestion. "I will have to stop stalking you for three days?! That's harsh, but I would say that it is still worth the risk."

"I guess that means we have a deal." Robin concluded.

"I guess it does. Speaking of guesses, what is your guess on who Morgan has a crush on?" Tharja asked.

"Hm… I say it's Yarne. I think I have seen them hang out a few times. Maybe she developed feelings for him during that time." Robin speculated, but a part of him hoped that he was wrong. He liked Yarne, but the fact that he was so obsessed with wanting to continue the Taguel-race made Robin want to keep him away from his daughter. Though he quickly realized that that was just the paranoid parental side of him thinking. Yarne is a good kid, he should be so judgmental.

"The Taguel? Bold choice. My bets are on Miriel's kid. The one with the glasses and the big hat. I forgot his name."

"You mean Laurent?" Robin asked.

"Yeah, that guy. If Morgan is anything like me, then she will go for the intelligent one." Tharja explained with a smile.

Robin found Laurent actually very helpful when it comes to keeping order in this army, so the idea of Morgan potentially dating him wasn't that unappealing to the tactician. Laurent was much more serious and concentrated, so he could be a really good influence for Morgan.

They reached Tharja's laboratory and Robin gently let his wife down. Tharja was much heavier than he had expected, so he was quite glad that they had finally reached their destination. He wasn't sure for how much longer he would have been able to carry her.

"Now let's stop wasting time and start with the experiment." The dark mage exclaimed, eagerly awaiting the chance to test her newest potion as she entered the tent.  
Even though he wasn't really looking forward to it, Robin complied. Maybe he could convince Tharja that her next experiment should be a hex that makes potions taste better. He made a mental note to talk to her about this later and followed her into the tent.

* * *

 _Author's note: I finally found the time to write another chapter and this time it's about falling in love and growing up. Dealing with hormones and getting in arguments with your parents is part of becoming an adult and even someone as upbeat as Morgan can't escape this._

 _As much as I love Robin x Tharja, their S-support does not make it seem like they were ready for marriage yet, but that is not really a problem for me. It makes the beginning of their relationship a bit more flawed and also more interesting._

 _Thank you so much for reading my story, I hope that you liked it. Have a nice a nice day. Bye._


End file.
